February 15 is President's Day

The February 22 birthday of George Washington, military leader of the American Revolution and first president of the United States, has been a legal holiday since 1885.

As a number of states also celebrated the February 12 birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, some legislators advocated combining the two events into a single holiday. The final legislation retained the Washington’s Birthday holiday, but many Americans now call the holiday “Presidents’ Day.”

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In 2010, Presidents Day falls on February 15.

The Legends of Valentine's Day

Every February, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery.

Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.
According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is
believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today.


According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)

Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

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Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address

In this year's State of the Union Address, President Obama speaks about restoring security for middle class families after a lost decade of declining wages, eroding retirement security and escalating health care and tuition costs.

read the full speech here.



watch the video here:

The 2010 State of the Union Address

Remarks on Internet Freedom

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
The Newseum
Washington, DC
January 21, 2010



Secretary Clinton (Jan. 21): "We want to put these tools in the hands of people who will use them to advance democracy and human rights, to fight climate change and epidemics, to build global support for President Obama’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons, to encourage sustainable economic development that lifts the people at the bottom up. That’s why today I’m announcing that over the next year, we will work with partners in industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations to establish a standing effort that will harness the power of connection technologies and apply them to our diplomatic goals. By relying on mobile phones, mapping applications, and other new tools, we can empower citizens and leverage our traditional diplomacy. We can address deficiencies in the current market for innovation."Read the full transcript here.


Watch the speech in High Definition, HERE

Internet Freedom: Secretary Clinton Delivers Major Policy Address

Secretary Clinton will deliver a major policy address on Internet freedom live from the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2010. Interact with a global audience by submitting questions and comments while viewing the Secretary’s speech and the live roundtable discussion that will follow by going to the Connect Pro site (Enter as Guest ). | Thursday, January 21, 2010 9:30am EST (15:30MKT)


Your local American Corner will air this speech live on a big screen.
Inquire about seats availability.

Americans Celebrate Achievements of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.
1929-1968

1964 Nobel Peace laureate
Civil rights giant that fought for principles with universal applicability

Son of the prominent Atlanta pastor Martin Luther King Sr., King at the age of 26 completed a doctorate in theology at Boston University. In 1954, King accepted the pastorate at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It was in Montgomery the following year that Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress, was jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated municipal bus to a white passenger. King led the organization directing the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became the movement’s public face. When the federal courts declared the bus segregation law unconstitutional, King emerged as a national figure.

During the early 1960s, King initiated a number of peaceful protests against segregated institutions. In May 1963, Birmingham, Alabama, Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor unleashed police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses against peaceful demonstrators, many of them schoolchildren. The images horrified the nation. King was arrested during these demonstrations and from his jail cell produced Letter From Birmingham City Jail, in which he argued that one who breaks an unjust law to arouse the consciousness of his community "is in reality expressing the highest respect for law," provided he acts "openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty."

That August, African-American leaders organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Here, before an estimated quarter million civil rights supporters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, King offered one of the most powerful orations in American history. Generations of schoolchildren have learned by heart lines from the I Have a Dream speech, in which King prayed for the day when people would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

King was in Memphis, Tennessee, in support of striking black garbage workers when, on April 4, 1968, an assassin’s bullet cut him down at the age of 39.





This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment, threats and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who knew he would pay the ultimate price for his leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and organizing anyway.

Check in your local American Corner for events observing Martin Luther King Day

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